The Canterbury Mudfish can survive out of water for up to twenty weeks. During periods of drought the fish remains cocooned in mud and re-emerges when the waterway is replenished. ... Bing Dawe puts a microscope to (this) and other freshwater fish species, often overlooked due to their miniscule size and concealed habitat. By exploring the lives of these indigenous species he highlights some forgotten inhabitants of the Canterbury Plains.

...Dawe’s carved Rimu representations of freshwater fishes elevate these species to a grander scale. Each specimen is shown as if in life and is celebrated for their unique characteristics. The Canterbury Mudfish has small fins and a slinky form, reminiscent of the eels that recur in Dawe’s art. ...

Although the Canterbury Mudfish has demonstrated adaptability to survive without water, these species share with all life forms a dependence on water. The quest for water is common to all inhabitants on the Plains and water sources are threatened by pollution and mismanagement. For Dawe the divining rod articulates this contest for water – its forked form both unifying and dividing. To him, it is a form that just “makes sense” and is a recurrent motif in this body of work. Dawe further draws on the associations of divining with spirituality and faith in divine knowledge – just as the Stargazer looks to the heavens and the Mudfish performs an apparent resurrection. But the divining rod appears here as more than embellishment or a symbol. It also serves as a construction element literally binding together components that make the fish and the structures that support them.

Cabinets have been revisited by Dawe throughout his career, initially as practical supports for sculpture but acquiring new meanings with changing application. In earlier works the cabinet evoked food storage, expressing the man-made methods of containing and consuming natural resources. The works in Dowsing and Divining reiterate this meaning of the cabinet as a container for nourishment, but now representing a broader context as the land – the resource that provides nourishment and sustains all life. By drawing attention to some of the lesser-known inhabitants of the Canterbury Plains, Dawe enhances awareness of the cycle of life supported by land and waterways. Through this he promotes “working with landscape in a more sensitive way; through knowledge.”

Christine Whybrew, Dowsing and Divinig exhibition catalogue, August 2010